Committee on Academic Freedom: Structure and Functions

The Committee on Academic Freedom is one of the Standing Committees of the Faculty Senate. It consists of eleven (11) members: five (5) elected faculty; five (5) elected students, and one (1) administrator.

As indicated in the Bylaws of the Lehman College Senate, members of the AFC shall be elected by the Faculty Senate from nominations received from the Committee on Governance and from the floor; such elections shall be completed no later than the last Senate meeting of the academic year, with the term beginning at the start of the following Fall semester.

Faculty members shall be elected for staggered terms of two years. Student members shall be elected for a term of one year. Members of the AFC shall be eligible for re-election.

In the event more nominations are received than there are positions to be filled, election to standing committees shall be by majority vote. Each member of the Senate shall vote for a number of candidates up to the number of positions to be filled. In the case of ties, there shall be a runoff election.

The roles and responsibilities of the AFC consist of the following:

Investigating allegations of infringement of academic freedom, and making recommendation(s) to the appropriate parties;

Reporting to the Faculty Senate on such allegations; and

Recommending guidelines and procedures for settling disputes/issues related to academic freedom, and obtaining the approval of the Faculty Senate to establish review mechanisms to facilitate this task.